The most recent quarterly Ten-Year Plan Advisory Board met Friday, September 24 at 8am at the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office. The bulk of the meeting’s time was spent reviewing preliminary work on a statement of vision, mission, and values for the evolving Ten-Year Plan “version 2.0.” Brad Greene was the primary presenter and led the conversation.

A document was distributed for discussion, and its first paragraph reads: The community of service providers to homeless families and individuals in the city of Knoxville are in the process of developing a detailed, coordinated plan for the system of services that will allow us to work in a more effective and accountable way to serve individuals and families. This design process is part of evolving and improving upon the nine principles of the original Ten Year Plan. The following is an overview and explanation of the overall vision, mission and values of our newly designed system.

The TYP underscores that this statement of vision, mission and values represents an evolution of the nine strategies published in the TYP adopted by the City and County in October 2005. It represents some of the best of what we’ve learned in implementing the TYP over the past three years, and is a natural progression based on that knowledge. It also represents a significant reorientation of the homeless service delivery system to better coordinate its efforts to make them more efficient and effective. We’ll be talking about this a lot more, in a lot of different places, over the next several months.

2. City Council workshop: September 30

Knoxville City Council has scheduled a workshop to hear from the Office of the Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.

The meeting will take place starting at 5 p.m. Thursday, September 30, in the main assembly room at the City-County Building. One topic of discussion will be the TYP’s efforts to communicate more effectively and more frequently with the general public on the goals of the TYP. Another will focus on the emerging TYP “version 2.0” discussed above.

The workshop is open to the public.

3. Community outreach update

The TYP seeks opportunities to engage neighborhood and civic groups in outreach activities. This week we conducted our sixth public conversation on Wednesday, September 22, and presented at the Island Home Park Neighborhood Association the following evening.

Our sixth public conversation took place at the Cansler YMCA from 6-7pm on Wednesday, September 22. The topic was Who Are the Homeless? and the main presenter was Dr. David Patterson of the UT College of Social Work. He was joined by Stacia West and Jennifer Lantz, who work at KnoxHMIS, Knoxville’s Homeless Management Information System. The conversation was very informative and the meeting was quite well-attended.

We’ll hold our seventh public conversation, and probably the last one of 2010, on Wednesday, November 17 at New Harvest Park, which is located close to Knoxville Center mall. Deborah Taylor of KCDC will discuss the role KCDC plays in making affordable housing available to people who need it, including people who are leaving the streets and moving into permanent supportive housing. We’re always looking for opportunities to converse with groups in the community about the TYP, the work already being done to end homelessness in our community, and what will be needed to move the TYP towards completion. If you know of groups who’d be interested in hearing from us, we’re interested in hearing about them. Please contact our office and let us know who we can call.

4. Flenniken update

City Council last Tuesday night denied an appeal of a Use-on-Review decision by the Metropolitan Planning Commission that allowed an increased number of spaces in the parking lot and allowed changes to a planned addition to a proposed permanent supportive housing development at the old Flenniken School.  The denial of this appeal means that work on this development can proceed, and that’s what’s happening.

Southeastern Housing Foundation continues with general clean-up work, including asbestos and lead abatement. All necessary permits have been issued, and the work is being carried out by a qualified contractor with decades of relevant experience. The neighbors in the area surrounding Flenniken are being kept aware of what’s going on at the development site by regular communication provided by Southeastern Housing Foundation.

Thank you

Thank you for taking the time to be engaged with the issue of homelessness and our community’s work to address it. If you have questions or concerns about anything related to the TYP, please do not hesitate to let us know.

1. Flenniken Housing: Parking variance request withdrawn. Southeastern Housing Foundation, the TYP’s nonprofit real estate development partner and developer of proposed permanent supportive housing at the old Flenniken School, has withdrawn its request for a zoning variance that would have permitted a smaller parking lot than what zoning requires. The project will go forward with a 58-space parking lot.

2. Recap: Compassion Coalition’s Salt & Light Luncheon. On Thursday, June 24, over 150 attendees at this luncheon learned about the Ten-Year Plan and how the faith-based community is engaging with its movement to help end chronic homelessness.

3. Recap: TYP Advisory Board Meeting. The TYP’s AB held its quarterly meeting on Friday, June 25, five days prior to the beginning of a new fiscal year. There was an update on housing placement numbers for the past two years (302 formerly chronically homeless people remain in housing), a discussion of next year’s goals, and a presentation by and dialog with Stephanie Matheny, a Knoxville resident with over a decade of experience developing affordable housing, including permanent supportive housing, in Seattle.

4. Preview: Public Conversation #4. The TYP will hold its next public conversation on 6pm Wednesday, July 21 at the Cansler YMCA.

Southeastern Housing Foundation, the TYP’s nonprofit real estate development partner and developer of proposed permanent supportive housing at the old Flenniken School, has withdrawn its request for a zoning variance that would have permitted a smaller parking lot than what zoning requires. The project will go forward with a 58-space parking lot.

Here’s the press release, dated June 29, 2010:

The Office of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness announced today that Southeastern Housing Foundation, a non-profit affordable housing development organization, is withdrawing a request for a zoning variance for the old Flenniken School project following a public meeting with area residents. The public meeting was held June 21 at the South Knoxville Recreation Center. Residents clearly felt that there were parking issues with other developments in the area.

“We wanted to build fewer parking places because we believe they won’t be used and that the money to build them could be better spent. We also were concerned about unnecessary concrete which could be green space. However, the number of spaces is clearly an issue with the people who live nearby,” said David Arning of Southeastern Housing Foundation. “District Councilman Nick Pavlis also expressed his concerns. Therefore we are withdrawing the request for variance and will build all 58 parking places required by Codes.”

“We are committed to communicating more with the entire community and to listening to what they say,” said Jon Lawler, Director of the Ten-Year Plan. “If we can make adjustments based on what we hear, we will. That’s an important part of the process.”

The TYP has also committed to a monthly meeting with residents of the neighborhood close to Flenniken. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, July 29 at 6pm at the South Knoxville Community Center.

2. Recap: Compassion Coalition’s Salt & Light Luncheon

On Thursday, June 24, approximately 200 attendees at this luncheon learned about the Ten-Year Plan and how the faith-based community is engaging with its movement to help end chronic homelessness. Grant Standefer, Compassion Coalition’s Executive Director, pointed to some of the successes of the TYP.

• Knox County CAC’s Homeward Bound housed 255 homeless persons in 2009, 80% (202) of whom have remained in housing after one year. 99 of these were chronically homeless, and of those 77% (76) remain in housing after one year.
• Volunteer Ministry Center has housed over 250 previously chronically homeless in permanent supportive housing since July 1, 2007. 91.2% remain in housing.
• Prevention is a focus of the TYP. Four CAC case managers have worked with 263 residents of KCDC public housing units. None of these residents have been to the streets. Prior to CAC’s efforts in this area, an average of 67 per year were being evicted to the streets.

Jon Lawler described the TYP, the fact that it seeks to end homelessness by providing otherwise inaccessible resources to people who are chronically homeless (disabled individuals who have been homeless for a long time) mostly through the means of permanent supportive housing, and that the end goal is to empower people to integrate into the community. He underscored that this approach is demonstrated to be effective by research and also by our own local experience. He mentioned that the TYP is aligned with the federal government’s approach to the issue of homelessness.

Lawler encouraged members of the faith-based community to focus their attention on efforts that contribute to ending homelessness and helping formerly-homeless people to form healthy relationships (Circles of Support), to support those who are doing the work, and to attend public meetings and advocate for housing.

Jessica Bocángel shared three stories of Circles of Support teams. Circles of Support is a mentoring program sponsored by The Compassion Coalition. It pairs one resident of permanent supportive housing, a “neighbor,” with a team of five “mentors” who meet with their neighbor on a regular basis for an agreed-upon period to build friendships. It’s not always easy, but the program is successful. Circles of Support mentor teams are increasing in number, and are helping people who had spent years living on the streets to build healthy relationships and experience “wholeness, reconciliation, and reintegration into the community.”

Standefer encouraged the faith community to respond to the TYP by keeping communication respectful, honest, and open. He encouraged patience as the TYP seeks to implement a “complex, complicated process.” He also offered a handout with several specific ways to for faith communities to connect and get involved in the work.

In addition, Stephanie Matheny announced that she is working to form a pro-TYP group called Citizens for the Ten-Year Plan. They plan to be the citizen voice in support of the plan, and against the referenda if they end up on the ballot. The group was founded by Bill Snyder, Sheryl McCormick, Ray Abbas, and Stephanie Matheny.

Matheny is in the process of collecting a list of names of people who support the TYP.  She plans to put the list on a website — only names and zip codes, not their other information. Citizens for the Ten-Year Plan will also use the emails to form a listserve to announce meetings, ask people to write to council members, etc. She said, “This is not a “petition” – it is not directly related to the referenda and has no legal significance. We just want to be able to demonstrate that there are many of us who would like to see the TYP succeed.”

Ms. Matheny got about 60 signatures at the Compassion Coalition event (as of July 6, 115 people have signed up) and she would like to get several hundred before the website goes live.

3. Recap: TYP Advisory Board Meeting

The TYP’s AB held its quarterly meeting on Friday, June 25, five days prior to the beginning of Year 5 of the TYP’s implementation. There was an update on housing placement numbers for the past two years (over 300 formerly chronically homeless people remain in housing), a discussion of next year’s goals, and a presentation by and dialog with Stephanie Matheny, a Knoxville resident with over a decade of experience developing affordable housing, including permanent supportive housing, in Seattle.

Three over-arching goals for Year 5 were discussed.

1. All stakeholders in the plan will be effectively engaged regarding the plan’s ongoing implementation.
2. The original version of the TYP will be updated to reflect the specific systemic improvements resulting from the TYP’s work with Brad Greene (the conceptual design will be developed into a specific working document via the involvement of all the stakeholders).
3. Increase the housing options available to the entire homeless population.

There was a brief discussion of how these goals would be shaped with Advisory Board input (see item 1 above) and of other stakeholders who should be invited into the discussion. Advisory Board members pointed out that this goes beyond an “update” to the TYP. We’re at a natural halfway point, a great deal of progress has been made, especially in the area of interagency communication and cooperation, and this is a good time to open up the discussion to a lot of input from the public. There was also strong agreement among Advisory Board members about their desire to increase the level of discussion, reflection, and input from the Advisory Board.

The Advisory Board requested a weekly update from the TYP office. (An update will also be prepared for City Council, County Commission, and for the Homeless Coalition. It will be published on the Ten-Year Plan’s website, too.)

Stephanie Matheny addressed the Advisory Board of her eleven years’ experience developing affordable housing, most of it serving the homeless, in and around Seattle/King County, Washington.

• King County’s efforts to address the need for supportive housing began in 1992, when their health department realized that the same people were cycling over and over through detox.
• There was housing available at the time, but all of it required sobriety and was not effective, and they came to realize that they could house people and at the same time reduce public cost and public inebriation.
• When Matheny’s group began planning the Wintonia Apartments in King County, they held dozens of public meetings which were invariably painful and difficult.
• They made changes to their plan along the way, with public input, began operation in 1994, and has achieved great acceptance by its neighbors, which include a private school.
• Residents still drink, but far less than when they were homeless, and costs to the public have been reduced significantly.
• Case management to client ratio was approximately 1:25 in the beginning.
• Seattle has voted a housing levy to make more local funding available for affordable housing development.
• Seattle developed and still uses a detailed public notification process for affordable housing developers.

Three top lessons from Seattle about supportive housing development:

1. Expect opposition to any proposed supportive housing development. It will be significant at the outset, and some folks will never come around.
2. Mistakes will happen. The development process is extremely difficult.
3. You can’t give up just because people in the community are not happy about it.

Matheny also offered these suggestions:

• Help people understand that there’s a big difference between site control and a finalized purchase. Site control does not equal “done deal.” Contingencies are wide open before purchase.
• Do as much due diligence as possible before announcing site control—there is no sense in arousing concern before developer knows he’s interested in moving forward with the site.
• Outreach to the community must happen before closing the purchase, but not before obtaining site control.
• Tout the successes of the TYP. The interagency coordination achieved is a huge success.
• Try to figure out a way to de-stigmatize residents of supportive housing. They are not homeless anymore, after all.

There was some interaction between Advisory Board members and Ms. Matheny, and the next two Advisory Board quarterly meeting dates were announced.

4. Preview: Public Conversation #4

The TYP will hold its next public conversation at  6pm Wednesday, July 21 at the Cansler YMCA. The topic will be mental healthcare services in the context of permanent supportive housing. Sheryl McCormick, Coordinator, Recovery Training Services at Peninsula, will present for the first half-hour with Q & A to follow.

We’re thinking ahead about potential topics for these public conversations, which have been quite well-attended. We are considering addressing the subject of substance addiction treatment at the next one, which will happen in August. As always, we value your input on this. Please let us know what you think.

The TYP AB is an advisory board. It offers guidance and acts as a sounding board, but does not act in a directive capacity. At every meeting, the TYP staff present a progress report. Click here to review those reports and to learn more about the AB.

The TYP AB’s next meeting will take place on Friday, March 26, 2010 at 8 a.m. at the Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty Street, near the intersection of Liberty and Division Street just off Sutherland Avenue.

Again, this meeting is open to the public, as are all TYP AB meetings.

The Ten-Year Plan Advisory Board meets quarterly. The TYP AB offers guidance and acts as a sounding board for the office of the TYP. At every meeting, the TYP staff present a progress report. Click here to review those reports and to learn more about the AB.

The TYP AB’s next meeting will take place on Friday, December 4, 2009 at 8am at the Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty Street, near the intersection of Liberty and Division Street just off Sutherland Avenue. This meeting is open to the public, as are all TYP AB meetings.

This meeting will feature an important presentation about the TYP’s work with Bradley Greene & Associates. This work addresses as a system the homeless service provider network in Knoxville and has significant implications for the TYP and its mission.

The TYP AB’s next meeting will take place on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 8am at the Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty Street, near the intersection of Liberty and Division Street just off Sutherland Avenue. This meeting is open to the public, as are all TYP AB meetings.

The TYP AB’s next meeting will take place on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 8am at the Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty Street, near the intersection of Liberty and Division Street just off Sutherland Avenue. This meeting is open to the public, as are all TYP AB meetings.

Please note that this is a change of date. The TYP AB had been scheduled to meet on Friday, March 27.

TYP AB (Ten-Year Plan Advisory Board) members represent a broad spectrum of community stakeholders in the TYP.

Members of the TYP AB meet quarterly. The The TYP office delivers a progress report at each of these meetings. Click here for PDF versions of progress reports.

All TYP AB meetings are open to the public. The TYP office announces these meetings in advance on this website, on area neighborhood listservs, and to the media through the City’s communications office.

Current TYP AB members are:

• Mr. Andy Black
  Helen Ross McNabb Center
  201 W. Springdale Avenue
  Knoxville, TN  37917
  541-6676 x3000
• Ed Eckenrod
  Council of Involved Neighborhoods (COIN)
• Mr. John Gill
  Knox County District Attorney’s Office
  400 Main Street, Ste 168
  Knoxville, TN  37902
  215-4086
• Ms. Barbara Kelly
  Knoxville-Knox County CAC
  P.O. Box 51650
  Knoxville, TN  37950-1650
  546-3500
• Mr. Alvin Nance
  Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation
  P.O. Box 3550
  Knoxville, TN  37927-3550
  403-1106
• Dr. Roger Nooe
  The Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office
  1101 Liberty Street
  Knoxville, TN 37921
  594-6120
• Captain David Rausch
  Knoxville Police Department
  P.O. Box 3610
  Knoxville, TN  37927-3610
  215-7708
• Ms. Mintha Roach
  Knoxville Utilities Board
  P.O. Box 59017
  Knoxville, TN  37950-9017
  594-7531
• Ms. Ellen Robinson
  Moxley Carmichael
  800 S Gay Street, Suite 1105
  Knoxville, TN 37929
  544-0008
• Mr. Burt Rosen
  Knox Area Rescue Ministries
  P.O. Box 3352
  Knoxville, TN  37927
  673-6561
• Mr. Frank Rothermel
  Denark Construction, Inc.
  1635 Western Avenue
  Knoxville, TN  37921
  637-1925
• Father Ragan Schriver
  Catholic Charities
  3009 Lake Brook Blvd
  Knoxville, TN  37909
  524-9896 x113
• Mr. Alex (Bo) Shafer, Jr.
  Shafer Insurance
  1100 Marion Street, Ste 100
  Knoxville, TN  37921
  546-0761
• Ms. Whitney Stanley
  Council of Involved Neighborhoods (COIN)
• Mr. Laurens Tullock
  Cornerstone Foundation
  625 Market Street, Ste 1200
  Knoxville, TN  37902-2204
  637-1912
• Major Don Vick
  The Salvation Army
  P.O. Box 669
  Knoxville, TN 37901
  525-9401
• Ms. Ginny Weatherstone
  Volunteer Ministry Center
  103 S. Gay Street
  Knoxville, TN  37902
  524-3926
• Mr. Jon Lawler
  Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Implementation Office
  City County Building, Room 512
  400 Main Street
  Knoxville, TN 37902
  215-2154
• Mr. Michael Dunthorn
  Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Implementation Office
  City County Building, Room 512
  400 Main Street
  Knoxville, TN 37902
  215-3103
• Mr. Robert Finley
  Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Implementation Office
  City County Building, Room 512
  400 Main Street
  Knoxville, TN 37902
  215-3071

This TYP AB meeting was open to the public. Subsequent TYP AB meetings will likewise be open and notice of them will be published in advance on this website, through the City’s Communications office, and via neighborhood listservs. The next one will be on Fri, Mar 22, 2009, at the Public Defender’s office.

The TYP office presents a very thorough progress report for discussion at it’s AB meetings. Click here to view these reports; the one from today’s meeting is up.

Please don’t hesitate to contact our office if you have any questions about anything related to the TYP AB. Feel free to use comments if you prefer.

The Ten-Year Plan Advisory Board meets quarterly. Its next meeting occurs at 8am, Fri, Dec 19, at the Knox County Public Defenders Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty Street, near the intersection of Liberty and Division Street just off Sutherland Avenue. This meeting is open to the public, as are subsequent TYP AB meetings.

The TYP AB is an advisory board. It offers guidance and acts as a sounding board, but does not act in a directive capacity. At every meeting, the TYP staff present a progress report. Click here to review those reports.

Two representatives of COIN (Council of Involved Neighborhoods) are joining the TYP AB. The new representatives are Whitney Stanley from the Old Sevier Community in South Knoxville and Ed Eckenrod, president of Oakwood Lincoln Park Neighborhood Organization. Eckenrod is also the incoming president of COIN. Alternates will be Diana Conn of Old Sevier and Dan Smith of West Knoxville. These appointments were made by Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam.

Other members of the Advisory Board are:

Andy Black
Helen Ross McNabb

John Gill
Knox County District Attorney’s Office

Barbara Kelly
Knoxville-Knox County CAC

Alvin Nance
Knoxville’s Community Development Corp.

Dr. Roger Nooe
UT College of Social Work

Captain David Rausch
Knoxville Police Department

Mintha Roach
Knoxville Utilities Board

Ellen Robinson
Moxley Carmichael

Burt Rosen
Knox Area Rescue Ministries

Frank Rothermel
Denark Construction, Inc.

Father Ragan Schriver
Catholic Charities

Alex (Bo) Shafer, Jr.
Shafer Insurance

Laurens Tullock
Cornerstone Foundation

Major Don Vick
The Salvation Army

Ginny Weatherstone
Volunteer Ministry Center